Tumbling Interest Rates Cause Hardships For Ex-pats

Interest rates in Turkey have hit yet another all time low and the central bank plans to make further cuts. The overnight borrowing rate is now just 7.25%, this is now the 11th consecutive month interest rates have been cut. Whilst this is very high compared to UK and Europe etc. it is less than half it was just a year ago.

Many ex-pats in Turkey rely on income from bank interest to survive here, in September last year 150,000TL would earn about 2,000TL net interest per month, now it will take almost 340,000TL (£144,000).

Lower inflation should help those suffering from this tight squeeze but whilst the official inflation rate is less than 6%, electricity prices have rose by 60% in the last year with another big hike of up to 21% starting 1st October.

I have noticed new adverts from Brits appearing in the local Voices newspaper recently, offering services like hairdressing, dog minding, gardening, odd jobs and more. Some British ex-pat have been observed working in Akbuk bar(s). Without proper work permits these people are risking heavy fines and possible deportation, even if they are not paid in cash. The Turkish government is getting tougher on illegal workers, deportation could be devastating for ex-pats who own property here.

So if you are thinking about relocating to Turkey, do your sums carefully, one thing is certain in the near future interest rates will continue to fall and the cost of living will continue to rise.

A little bit of Turkeys financial history . . . 5 years ago banks were paying 33% interest and in February 2002 interest rates were over 50%. Those who had the nerve made real money.

Attention Owners of Rental Properties in Akbuk

We are regularly asked for contacts for holiday rentals, if you have a website or page and link to our site, email us with your website/page address and we will add it to the list of properties for rent we send to inquirers.

We now also offer photo links from our website to yours, to see examples visit www.akbukturkey.com/Rentals.html

If you don't have a website yet, we offer an at-cost service from £20 per year, click this link for more information www.akbuk.homestead.com (only available for rentals in the Akbuk area).